Assignment #1

Methane (CH4)

Methane, also known as marsh gas or methyl hydride, is a colorless odorless gas and is easily ignited. The vapors are lighter than air and when exposed to fire or intense heat the containers for the long time, it may rupture violently and rocket (CAMEO Chemicals, n.d.).

Natural Occurrence

Naturally, methane is produced by the anaerobic bacterial decomposition of vegetable matter and majorly produced in wetlands. Other important natural sources of methane include termites, volcanoes, vents in the ocean floor, and methane hydrate deposits that occur along continental margins. (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.).

Preparation

Methane can commercially prepared from natural gas or by fermentation of cellulose and sewage sludge. It can also be formed when pure carbon combines directly with pure hydrogen at temperatures above 1100 °C (O’Niel, 2013). Methane can also be obtained by a nickel-catalyzed reaction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen (Lewis, 2007). It can also be produced electrochemically from water and carbon dioxide using ruthenium electrodes at 61 °C to obtain a 30% yield based on electric current (“CHEM ENG NEWS”, 1985).

Uses

For industry purposes, it can be used for (1) fuels and fuel additives, (2) functional fluids, (3) intermediates, (4) laboratory chemicals, and (5) processing aids. For consumer purposes, it can be used for fuels and related products and plastic and rubber products (EPA Chemical Data Report, n.d.).

Toxicity

According to Bingham, et al. (2001), liquefied methane may cause frostbite-like effect on skin contact. Methane also acts as a simple asphyxiant when inhaled. Its presence displaces air and causes hypoxia (Ford, et al, 2001).

References:

Bingham, E.; Cohrssen, B.; Powell, C.H. (2001); Patty's Toxicology Volumes 1-9 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons. New York, p. V4 6

CAMEO Chemicals, (n.d.) Retrieved from http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/3757 CHEM ENG NEWS 63 (25): 25 1985 Retrieved from http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-

bin/sis/search/r?dbs+hsdb:@term+@rn+@rel+74-82-8 EPA Chemical Data Report (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/cdr/ Ford MD, Delaney KA, Ling LJ, Erickson T (2001); Clinical Toxicology. W.B. Saunders Company.,

Philadelphia, PA., p. 789 O'Neil, M.J. (2013). The Merck Index - An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals.

Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry, p. 1105 The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (n.d.) Retrieved from http://

http://www.britannica.com/science/methane

Petroleum

Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur in the Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid forms. In liquid form, commonly called crude oil, but it also includes natural gas and the viscous or solid form known as bitumen. The liquid and gaseous phases of petroleum constitute the most important of the primary fossil fuels. Liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons are so intimately associated in nature that it has become customary to shorten the expression “petroleum and natural gas” to “petroleum” when referring to both (Riva, n.d.).

Natural Occurrence

Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from ancient fossilized organic materials (Kvenvolden, 2006). Large quantities of these remains settled to sea or lake bottoms and are buried under anoxic conditions. As further layers settled to the sea or lake bed, intense heat and pressure build up in the lower regions and caused the organic matter to change, first into a waxy material known as kerogen, and then with addition heat it will turn into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons through a process known as catagenesis. Hydrocarbon pyrolysis in a variety of mainly endothermic reactions at high temperature and/or pressure, causes the formation of petroleum (Braun, et al, 1993).

Preparation

Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling after the thorough studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis and reservoir characterization (Guerriero, et al., 2012). It is then refined and separated into a large number of consumer products, most easily by distillation, from petrol gasoline and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals ("Organic Hydrocarbons: Compounds made from carbon and hydrogen", n.d.).

Uses

Petroleum can be taken to oil refineries, because of its heterogeneous chemical structure, and the hydrocarbon chemicals separated by distillation and treated by other chemical processes, so that it can used for a variety of purposes. And the most common are fuels Example of fuels are LPG, butane, gasoline, kerosene etc. Petroleum can also be derived into other end products such as alkenes, lubricants, wax, sulfur, asphalt, paraffin wax, aromatic petrochemicals, etc. And because of petroleum industry, agricultural productivity has increased dramatically due largely to the increased use of energy-intensive mechanization, fertilizers and pesticides (Simanzhenkov, 2003).

Toxicity

Incomplete combustion of petroleum results in production of toxic byproducts because too little oxygen results in carbon monoxide. Due to the high temperatures and high pressures involved, exhaust gases from gasoline combustion in car engines usually include nitrogen oxides which causes the creation of photochemical smog (“Use of ozone depleting substances in laboratories”, n.d.).

References:

Braun, Robert L.; Burnham, lan K. (June 1993). "Chemical Reaction Model for Oil and Gas Generation from Type I and Type II Kerogen"

Guerriero V. et al. (2012). "A permeability model for naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs". Marine and Petroleum Geology (Elsevier) 40: 115–134

Kvenvolden, K. A. (2006). "Organic geochemistry – A retrospective of its first 70 years". Org. Geochem. 37: 1–11

"Organic Hydrocarbons: Compounds made from carbon and hydrogen", (n.d.) Retrieved from http://cactus.dixie.edu/smblack/chem1010/lecture_notes/2B.htm

Riva, J.P. Jr. (n.d.) .Petroleum. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/science/petroleum Simanzhenkov, V; Idem, Raphael (2003). Crude Oil Chemistry. CRC Press,. p. 33. “Use of ozone depleting substances in laboratories”, (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://www.norden.org/pub/ebook/2003-516.pdf